Christmas at our House

Santa came to our house last Thursday night, the 23rd. We started out the evening with a visit from our friends, the Mercers, from down the street. Dane just loves Lauren. She is so good to him. They decorated cookies together while I supervised and Latesha, Lauren's mom, held Reese. Lauren was so kind when Dane would dump a whole pile of sprinkles in one spot.

He loved eating the icing!

His hair is a little crazy because when Lauren got to our house Dane was still napping. He jumped up so quick when I told him Lauren was there.
Dane's cookies

It was funny because since I watched Dane decorate his cookies (licking the knife, then icing, then putting his little fingers all over the cookies) there is no way I could eat his. Lauren iced quite a few and left some at the house. I could eat those. The next morning several of Dane's were missing.....Dave got hungry in the middle of the night. I laughed and told him if he saw Dane decorate them he probably wouldn't have eaten them. He didn't really seem to care.

Dane was so sad when Lauren had to leave. He kept asking her, "Please stay." I distracted him by reminding him we had to get ready for Santa to visit.

Once Dane and Reese were bathed and in their pjs I tried to take a picture of them by the tree. Reese was crying a bit and Dane was trying to calm him. Finally Dane said, "Take him mommy. He's crying."

We laid Reese on a pillow, which he didn't like either. He just wanted to go to bed!

Dane had his cookies on a plate for Santa and he was excited.

He then went to sprinkle out his reindeer food that he got from Santa on the Santa Express.

He sprinkled it on the patio.

Finally, he was ready for bed. He went to bed really well and I was surprised because he was so excited.

Not long after that Santa delievered all of the gifts.

The next morning I got up with Reese at 6:00. He took his morning bottle and I kept waiting for Dane to call my name. About 7:00 Reese fell back asleep and Dane was still sleeping. I ended up laying in bed and fell asleep as well. It was about 8:15 when I heard Dane call my name. Right away he yelled, "Santa" and went running down the hall.

Checking out the presents

I wanted to get his picture next to the tree and he just couldn't take his eyes off the presents.

Finally, time to open. We checked the tag together to find one for Dane.

He loved it that Santa used "Thomas the Train" wrapping paper.

He helped Reese open his gifts.

After he would open one he would say, "Anymore for Dane?"

I loved watching him get so excited.

He piled all of Reese's gifts on and around his chair.

Reese slept through the entire present opening.

Last thing to open, a stocking.

It was so fun to have the magic of Christmas in our house this year. I can only imagine how he will be in the next few years and the fun we will have with our two sweet boys!

Random Pictures from December

I am getting ready to go through my many, many pictures from our Christmas Celebrations! We celebrated here on the 23rd, at Dave's sister's house Christmas Eve Day, at my parent's house on Christmas Eve with my dad's family, Christmas Morning at my parent's house with my siblings, and Christmas Day at my Grandma's house. We had a wonderful holiday and I can't wait to look at all the pictures and remember it all!

Here are some random December pictures.............

The boys playing in Dane's room before going to bed.

Reese never knows if he is going to get a sweet kiss or a more aggressive love pat.

Dane made a stocking at Tracey's house and he just loved it.
Dane got Elf on a Shelf from my parents for Saint Nick's Day. This is before Dave read the book Elf on a Shelf to Dane. We didn't know we weren't supposed to touch the Elf.

The next morning the Elf was up high and safe from a little boy that loved him so much!

Santa window clings! Another gift from my parents for St. Nick's Day. Dane loved these window clings and he spent hours and hours pulling the chairs from the dinning room table over to the sliding glass door so he could play with them. My window has so much little fingerprints on it!

Dressed in his Santa hat and shirt for the daycare Christmas party!

Taking Christmas pictures this year was quite the ordeal. I thought we would do it in the comfort of home so that we could do it whenever we all seemed to be in a good mood and up for it. We attempted twice and got a couple of good pictures to share. Here are some pictures to show the craziness of the photo shoot.

Dane deciding he wanted to give Reese a kiss. Reese not really wanting one!

When Reese started crying Dane kissed his hand to try to comfort him.

A kiss on the forehead to try to soothe a screaming baby brother!

Who knows what he is trying to do here!

Our Lady of the Snows-Way of Lights

Last Tuesday my mom, dad, Katie, Dave, and I took the boys to the Way of Lights at Our Lady of the Snows. We had dinner at McCallisters first and then headed over.

Our first stop was for a pony ride and the petting zoo. Dane loves riding ponies and he is now at the point where he doesn't want/need Dave to hold his hand as he rides.

He reached down to pet it before he got off.

We then went over to the petting zoo. Dane fed the animals some carrots.

He loved it! After he would feed them he would jump up and down. He was so excited!

We then went inside so Dane could play at the Childrens Village.

He decorated a star.

After Dane played for a bit inside we went back outside to go through the light display. Little Reese just enjoyed the night snuggled up in his carseat.

Santa Express

Dane absolutely LOVES trains. He gets so excited to go over to Trey's house because Trey has a TON of trains. For his birthday he got a train track and his first Thomas the Train train. We have added a couple of pieces here and there. He loves to build the track and move the train along as he makes the sounds and yells, "All Aboard." When I pick him up from Tracey's he will point and say, "Go that way mommy. See train."

When Dane was just 4 months old we went to ride the Polar Express. I don't remember exactly where it was, but it was about 3 hours away. It was a fun trip!

This year, especially with Dane's love for trains, I couldn't wait for him to watch the movie, The Polar Express. I decided I wanted to take him on a Christmas train ride. I had heard of the Santa Express in Jackson, Missouri. We decided to give it a try this year.

Sunday, December 18th, my mom, dad, Kara, Claire, Dane, Reese, and I headed down for the 1:00 train ride. We all had a great time! Dane was so excited when we got on the train.

He sat on Papa's lap and kept saying, "Let's get moving."

One thing I loved about this train ride was that there was so much for the kids to do during the ride. They passed out a picture of Thomas the Train and crayons so the kids could color. Dane loved holding on to this little stocking full of crayons.

He kept looking out the window waiting for us to move.

The conductor explained the whistles that would blow. I had to warn Dane about this because he does not like loud noises. By the time the train started going he would just say, "The loud noise is just the train." He was holding onto our ticket.

Once we started going he just kept looking out the window.

We got a little bit down the track and we heard a noise on the roof. They said Santa and his reindeer had landed on top of the train. Dane kept looking up, hoping to see something. He was so excited when Santa got on the train. He kept saying, "Sit on Santa's lap."

There was also a bear, which I think was the train's mascot.

I just loved watching how excited he was!

Aunt Kara and Claire

Santa was set up in one of the cars. The volunteers on the train would come get one family at a time and walk them up to have their time with Santa. Santa was so excited to see everyone. He gave everyone Reindeer Food to put out on Christmas Eve.

Another activity they had was facepainting. Claire and Dane got painted up like Rudolph.

The train ride was 2 hours. We got on at 1:00. At 2:00 it was time for Reese to eat. He loved sleeping on the train, but after I fed him he was wide awake for the rest of the ride.

Big Yawns!

Mama took the kids back and they got a toy train to take home.

The train ride was through the outskirts of Jackson. We saw some horses and cows on our ride. Dane and Claire loved looking out the windows.

There were cookies and hot chocolate.

Christmas Cheers!

Hanging out with Mama during the ride.

Also during the ride we played Christmas Bingo, Santa read the Polar Express, and some sang Christmas Carols.

Then Santa had to get ready to get off at his stop.

Waving goodbye to Santa.

Reese was sound asleep when it was time for our family to go see Santa so I left him with my dad while I took Dane up. As Santa was leaving the train he saw Reese and said, "Oh, I missed seeing this little guy." He asked if he could hold him. I thought that was so sweet.

As we got off the train Dane just kept checking it out. He loved it!

We may have to take a little train ride this summer.

I can't wait to do this again next year! It was such a fun trip and there was so much for the kids to do on the train. Dane definitely had a blast!